4/29/2023

My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,

            The NYT notes that you are diverging from your habit of getting away for the weekend to stay in town for the WH Correspondents’ Association dinner. According to their count you have left DC for at least part of the weekend 94 times versus staying in town only 24 times. Are you sure you want such a large carbon footprint?

            Have you heard of the “No Labels” group? According to George Will (GW) they want “to protect the electorate from the failure of the political market to supply …fresh presidential talent.” GW suggests that the 2024 election might be non-binary, in part because you aren’t dealing with crises such as social security. Are you sure you want to run?

            On a more somber note, the people of Davis, CA, are grieving this weekend. A gentle man, David Breaux, who promoted compassion, by inviting strangers to define it for him, was found stabbed to death in our central park on Th AM. His compassion campaign was such a fixture that a group crafted a special bench on the corner of 3rd and C to commemorate it.

I saw a deranged man that last week on the bike path and worry that he could be the murderer. I can’t help wondering if I had done something rather than pass by him as he raged at the universe if this would have happened.

            I didn’t do anything because I have learned that calling the police only leads to more violence. I did not know how to diffuse the situation myself, so I ignored it. I don’t think that was the right thing to do.

            What would you do?

            Mad men are a conundrum. It feels like the world is full of them. DJT, VVP, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, Kim Jung Un. I just saw a TED Talk by CrisMarie Campbell & Susan Clarke who claim conflict can be an energy source, that we should “use it rather than diffuse it”. Can that logic be used with these mad men? I will ponder that query.

            BYBS,